How To Root Nexus S 4G [Tutorial]

In case you opted for Google Nexus S 4G on Sprint and were looking for root, then your wait is now over. For those who don’t know, Google Nexus S 4G is WiMax version of original Nexus S for Sprint customers and has, more or less, identical features and specifications. The credit for this guide goes to kpkimmel, Senior XDA developer and Android hacker, who claims this as a safe method and you can’t miss it if you follow rooting instructions to detail.

Before embarking on this guide, you need to have Android SDK installed on your computer. You can follow the instructions posted here for this purpose. You also need Google Nexus S 4G root package that is available in step 1 of instructions.

Instructions:

The first step is to download the root package from here and extract the files on your desktop. The root package carries recovery.img along with SuperUser.zip and is 3.33 MB in size.

Once done, connect your phone to the computer, mount SD Card as disk drive and copy SuperUser.zip along with recovery.img to SD Card root.

Now in order to proceed, you will need to unlock bootloader of your Nexus S 4G. You can unlock your Nexus S 4G’s bootloader by installing Android SDK and then using Fastboot OEM unlock command by opening tools folder in Command Prompt. You can simply hold shift and then right click on tools sub folder in Android SDK main folder and select “Open Command Window Here” from context menu.

After you are done unlocking your phone’s bootloader, reboot your phone in bootloader mode. To achieve this, power off your device then power it back on while holding volume down button along with power button.

Now copy the earlier downloaded recovery.img file in Android SDK’s tools folder. After this open the folder in command prompt and type: fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

After you type the above mentioned command, you will see “Flash OK” message in command prompt. At this moment, scroll down to Recovery on your phone using volume down button and press power button to confirm.

Once you are in recovery mode, navigate to Flash Zip From SD Card option and select SuperUser.zip. This will flash SuperUser [SU] on your phone and complete the root process.

And there you go! Now your Google Nexus S 4G has permanent root and it’s all set for Custom ROMs and other mods. Please consult the official XDA thread posted here for support and further details regarding this procedure.

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